US DEFENCE MINISTER TALKS WITH EL-SISI ON EGYPT’S SECURITY
“Secretary Hagel and Egyptian Minister of Defense Gen. Al-Sisi spoke again by phone this morning. They discussed the interim government’s progress along the political roadmap, lifting of the curfew and state of emergency, and the security situation in the Sinai and the Suez Canal,” Pentagon press secretary George Little said in a press statement on Wednesday.
The officials also addressed strategic and military ties between the countries a month after Washington announced cutbacks in assistance to Egypt, Ahram reported as quoted by Mi’raj News Agency (MINA).
“They both reflected on the continued importance of the US-Egypt military relationship and agreed to remain in close contact with one another,” read the statement.
The United States earlier this month said it was recalibrating its $1.5 billion a year in annual aid to Cairo, including 1.3 billion in military aid, after the ouster of elected president Mohamed Morsi and the bloody crackdown on his supporters, straining relations.
The Obama administration said on 9 October that it would freeze deliveries of big-ticket items including tanks, Apache helicopters, F-16 fighter jets and other military equipment, as well as $260 million in cash aid, until Egypt made progress on democracy and human rights.(T/P03/P04)
Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)
